Very little is being written about this story in the mainstream media, which seems odd is this is a huge story of corruption in Latin America, and one that involves one of the major names in the Operação Lava Jato (Operation Car Wash) scandal that was a big factor in Dilma’s recent impeachment as Brazilian president.

Following an investigation by Peruvian prosecutors the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht have admitted to paying US$29 million in bribes between 2005 and 2014 to gain lucrative contracts. These bribes were paid during the governments of Alejandro Toledo, Alan Garcia and Ollanta Humala, which goes to show how widespread the problem is. The last of these, former President Humala and the former first lady Nadine Heredia are currently under investigation for the bribes and are banned from leaving the country.

According to the Comptroller General’s Office, public work contracts signed with Odebrecht between 1988 and 2015 led to an astonishing alleged US$283-million economic loss for Peru.

About

On The Road to Find Out is a blog all about South America which I started in March 2009 upon landing in Rio de Janeiro, and which includes stories from my travels in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay.

As well as these travel stories, you will hopefully also get to understand my obsessions with food, football and music, all of which go hand-in-hand with travelling around South America, on a journey which has no end in sight yet.